Family Dinner

Family dinner with my cousins at my place. A few of my mother's speciality dishes - char siew, duck cooked in beer, ... :)

Cousins Reunited

I last saw my cousin Ming and cousin-in-law, Colin in Bristol, UK in 1987! We finally meet again! :) 

Family dinner cooked by my mother

My cousins from UK, Ming and Colin

CNY Family Dinner

My mother never fails to invite my cousins and their families over for dinner within the CNY period to celebrate CNY with them. The chicken rice, braised pork bun and the soup are always a huge hit. :)

Chicken Rice, Braised Pork Bun, Fruit Salad, Soup with Fish and assorted vegetables

A Family Feast Once More

Now that my parents are back from England, we are having our family feast again!! :) My parents invited my cousins over for dinner. Finally, some GOOD FOOD after three months! :P 

Chawanmushi and Chicken Rice with mango

Home-made Roasted pork belly and Char Siew

Cuttlefish and Kang Kong Rojak and Fresh Pepper and Pear Salad

Family Gathering

My father and his cousin finally met again after having lost touch with one another for more than 10 years. :) They were the best of friends when they were kids in Malaysia. Both cousins have tried to contact each other but with the moving of homes, phone numbers and addresses inevitably got misplaced and lost.
When they finally made contact again, his cousin and wife and their grandson booked their flights and came to Singapore to meet up with my parents. My parents invited them over for a family dinner gathering together with my other Malaysian cousins who are now living in Singapore.

Black olive rice, braised duck, san bei squid, fried crispy long beans, braised pork with buns

An earlier visit on Wednesday 16 July when the uncle, aunt and their grandson arrived in Singapore

"Simple" Home-Style Family Dinner

My mother invited my paternal relatives over for dinner. As usual, she cooked up a feast. :)

Although some of the dishes looked simple, they were not simple/ easy to cook as in time was needed to get the flavours in, etc. Examples are the braised duck and bead curd, pickled cucumber salad, Japanese soft-boiled eggs, savory glutinous rice with pork and mushroom, lotus root soup, fried ikan bilis (anchovies) with peanuts. We all had our favourites. My daughters love the chicken curry, duck, soft-boiled eggs and glutinous rice. I love every dish that my mother cooked. My relatives too as all of them went back for seconds! :)

The Other Side of the Globe

It is so strange to see my parents/ the girls' grandparents together with my nephews over in England on Skype lol. We are so used to my parents being over this side of the globe. :P It is really funny to see my youngest nephew cosying up to my parents and trying to play pranks on my parents. He was only a baby when my parents last saw him. But thank goodness, we have been Skyping frequently so my parents are no strangers to my youngest nephew. :)

Family Time

Almost every weekend, my girls saw their cousins, my brother's boys. My parents as well. No, my brother and his family are not back in Singapore. They are still in England! The girls would see their cousins over Skype lol. Well it is the only way for the cousins to get to see each other until either the girls go over to England for a visit or my brother and his family comes back to Singapore for a visit.

Happy 9th Birthday, Yeun Yi!!

Happy 9th Birthday, Yeun Yi!

Hope you have a great day full of fun and many happy returns. :)


Lots of love,
Cousins Marieann & Juliane

Happy 7th Birthday, Cousin Matthew

Happy Birthday, Cousin Matthew!

Hope you have a great day, full of presents and fun! :)

Love,
Cousins Marieann and Juliane

Family Ties

Today is my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary! :)

In the evening, the girls spoke to their grandparents via Skype and also to their cousins, Yeun Song and Yeun Zhen. It is really cold now in London, snowing heavily. The girls lamented that they wanted to see snow. Don't worry, I will ask your Uncle YM to take some photos of the snow and send over lol. :P

Earlier in the day, I visited my grandmother-in-law at the ICU ward at TTSH. She looked really frail. I hope she gets well soon.

Hi Cute Baby

For the very first time, the girls met their latest cousin, Yeun Zhen via Skype. They were really thrilled. Juliane kept saying that Yeun Zhen is so cute. :)

They also spoke to their maternal grandparents and their other cousins, Yeun Yi (Abel) and Yeun Song (Matthew). It has been a while since the cousins last saw each other via Skype. They haven't met each other in person yet. They should do that in the near future, in a year or two. The girls mentioned that they wanted to talk to their grandparents and cousins more often via Skype. I agreed. Maybe next weekend before I leave for my conference.

Family Gathering

My uncle and auntie (who arrived in Singapore today from Malaysia), my cousins and cousin-in-laws came over for dinner at my place. The girls were thrilled to see their cousin, Johanna again. Thankfully, my girls click well with most of the children who come over to my place. My girls also like to look after them like the big sisters they are.

Happy Birthday, Matthew

Happy 7th Birthday, Matthew.

We wish you lots of fun, games and more FUN for your 7th year. :)

love,
Cousins Marieann and Juliane

Happy Birthday, Cousin Matthew

Happy 5th Birthday, Matthew.
We hope you love your birthday present.

Lots of love and hugs,
Cousins Marieann and Juliane

PS. We hope to visit you and Abel in UK soon.

Cousins (more), Breakfast and Gathering

Just before we left for breakfast, another cousin came to visit us, with his spouse and few month old baby boy. Marieann was more than game to take photos with her baby cousin whereas Juliane just smiled and ran away. Marieann even had a photo of her carrying her baby cousin. :)


We went to Whitebait & Kale nearby for breakfast. Juliane decided that she wanted to stay home with her grandparents. It is kind of unusual to find for one so young who would rather stay home than to go out, lol. Maybe she takes after my mother who much prefers to stay home to read, and to do stuff than go out.

Marieann had Spaghetti Napoletana sauce ($10). She really does like pasta for she walloped up everything on her plate. :)


I ordered Eggs Benedict with Dill Mustard sauce , Honey-baked Ham on Grilled Crumpets ($16). The portion was just nice. The crumpets were great in mopping up the yolk lol. :P


The girls' father had Scrambled Egg with Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese on Rye Toast ($16). He was a little disappointed with the portion, which he thought was a bit small.



In the afternoon, I had a gathering with my SCGS friends. I had intended to bring Juliane with me but again she decided she would rather stay home. Oh well, I did enjoy myself better since I didn't have to divert my attention to look after her lol. :P There was the usual chatting and laughing whenever we gathered together lol. This time, no photos though as I was too busy stuffing myself with grilled chicken wings haha. :P

Sleeping Beauty and Cousins

I had a really long day yesterday. I was working on the budget into the wee hours of the morning, then went to work and later in the evening, went for my friend's wedding dinner. I think I only had less than 4 hours of sleep. But I guess I paid my dues to Sandman today. I was "Sleeping Beauty" for most of today, hahaha. I only woke up to have breakfast at 9am and then late lunch at 2pm. :P

In the evening, my aunt and uncle, my cousins and their spouses came over for dinner. It was nice to see them as we haven't had them over for a while. My cousin has an 18-month old daughter, Johanna. The girls were a little excited to see their cousin but because Johanna is rather young, my girls were a little apprehensive about playing with her. :P Once Johanna is a little older, I think the 3 girls will have no problem playing with each other. :)